New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to ensure availability of funds with state governments and union territories for construction of toilets, specially for girls, in all government schools, the absence of which has been coming in way of providing free and compulsory education to children. The apex court had in its previous order said "it is imperative that all schools must provide toilet facilities as empirical researches have indicated that wherever toilet facilities are not provided in schools, parents do not send their children (particularly girls) to schools. "It clearly violates the right to free and compulsory education of children guaranteed under Article 21-A of the Constitution".
After perusing the affidavits filed by them about the progress of the work for which some states sought financial assistance from the Centre, the bench headed by Dalveer Bhandari directed the Centre to "ensure that funds are available with the state governments to implement its order".
The bench also said states and union territories may approach the Ministry of Human Resource Development with the requisite demand so that appropriate order can be passed for release of funds. It also directed Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, the concerned ministry, to file an affidavit within three weeks on the issue of providing toilets in schools.
The court, which is monitoring the progress made by state governments and union territories on the issue, also gave a last opportunity to Uttarakhand, Punjab and West Bengal to apprise it about the progress made by them on the construction of toilets and warned failure to file the affidavit would result in summoning their respective Chief Secretaries for personal appearance before it.
PTI